Son of WA's top cop back in jail

The son of Western Australia's top cop is back in maximum security prison after failing a drugs test, breaching his parole on a conviction for attempting to manufacture methamphetamine.

A clearly emotional Karl O'Callaghan chose to reveal he had personally delivered his son Russell, 31, back to authorities after the Department of Corrective Services discovered he had lapsed in his drug addiction battle.

The younger O'Callaghan was sentenced to 16 months behind bars last year for attempting to manufacture methamphetamine, following a clandestine drug lab explosion in which he suffered severe burns.

The commissioner's son was released in May and had been living with Mr O'Callaghan since his release.

Mr O'Callaghan said there had been no sign that his son had suffered a relapse until he was contacted on Thursday to say his son had returned to drugs, and having done so must return to prison.

"It was a requirement of his parole that he does not consume at all, and he failed his drug test," Mr O'Callaghan said.

"Methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug, and it is not uncommon for people who are methamphetamine addicts to relapse.

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"That does not mean to say they have failed their recovery. It means they have hit a stumbling block.

"All we can do is to continue to support him.

"I am his parent, I am his father and we will extend unconditional love while we work through this."

The younger O'Callaghan will now have to front a Prison Review Board hearing to determine how long he spends in prison. He had been released on parole after serving eight months of his 16 month sentence.

He was originally arrested and charged following a clandestine drug lab explosion at a Department of Housing unit at Carlisle, in Perth's south, in 2011 in which he and four others suffered burns.

Two children, aged three and four, escaped injury.

O'Callaghan spent more than two weeks in hospital for treatment to burns to his head, shoulders and arms, and then suffered further through his conviction and eventual jail term.

O'Callaghan had his sentence reduced by six months after he agreed to give evidence against the two other men allegedly involved in the attempted manufacture of the drug.

His father said on Thursday his son's rehabilitation appeared to have been progressing well until he received the call from WA's Corrective Services department.

"I am very disappointed and Russell is very disappointed, and I gave him a hug before he left," Mr O'Callaghan said.

"I picked him up and delivered him into the hands of police.

"This is one of the difficulties of being commissioner and also being a father of someone who has these types of problems. That is my job.

"It was very tough, but I will continue to support him.

"These are tough calls - I have got to behave as commissioner of police, and I have also got to behave as a parent - that is how it is."